Sonic 4 story details

TSSZ posted today about a G4 interview with Sega’s Ken Balough, and the video carries some minor details on the game’s storyline that really raised my left eyebrow in growing intrigue.

Balough claims that Sonic 4 is “the beginning of a whole new saga,” continuing directly off of the Death Egg Trilogy (Sonic 1 through 3/Knuckles). He goes on to promise that Sonic 4 has a “finite amount of episodes,” and will not be yielding an Episode 9 or 10.

What really had me excited was when he started talking about Robotnik. Yes, Robotnik. Not Eggman. Ro. Bot. Nik. I was giddy for a little while, but then he let the ol’ E name slip later in the video, and my eyebrow promptly lowered itself in disappointment. Which one is it, Sega?

Balough talked a bit about Robotnik/Eggman’s motives, and how they differ from previous 2D entries. Whereas most Sonic stories involve some overall domination scheme that Sonic thwarts, this one apparently has more to do with a direct attempt by Robotnik to “get rid of the hedgehog.”

At first, this doesn’t sound like anything huge, but I’m curious to see just how far they take this. With the other 2D Sonic games Robotnik has always been a rotund, mustachioed coward, ready to run from the fight as soon as his machines have failed him. It could be really fresh to have to run from a Robotnik bent on revenge.

Readers Comments (2)

I guess the animosity I harbor for that name is borne from a desire to see Robotik as a pinch more sinister than he has gotten in recent years. When I was a kid, he seemed a little creepier, with his black eyes and eerie silence. I mean, he was always a pudgy little coward, but he still managed to be threatening when his creations were involved. His name mirrored that. With the Eggman name came a goofiness that I couldn’t get over.